Rome: Modern and Ancient

Andy Shuman

Once a small, nondescript village on the Tiber River, Rome grew into an astonishing world power, ruling a vast empire for almost 3,000 years, and changing, reinventing and transforming the world, arts, politics, culture and itself as it went along.

Today, Rome is a bustling metropolis, as well as a mecca for nightlife and shopping. The surprisingly walkable historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, filled to the brim with gorgeous palazzos, thousand-year-old churches, spectacular gardens and magnificent ruins, such as the Colosseum and Pantheon.

Pantheon, Rome

As the saying goes, all roads lead to Rome, but so do airlines. Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino International Airport is one of the busiest airports in Europe. In 2014, it served almost 40 million passengers. All of the major U.S. airlines fly there.

Castel Sant’Angelo and the Tiber River

American Airlines and the oneworld alliance

The following oneworld alliance members fly to Rome:

American Airlines, seasonally from Chicago and New York

US Airways via Philadelphia, and seasonally from Charlotte

airberlin via Düsseldorf and Berlin

British Airways via London

Finnair via Helsinki

Iberia via Madrid

Niki via Vienna

British Airways levies a substantial fuel surcharge on flights from the U.S., so you will save hundreds of dollars flying on American Airlines to London, and then on British Airways to Rome.

MileagePlus Miles and the Star Alliance

United Airlines seasonally from Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C.

Aegean Airlines via Athens, and seasonally from Corfu and Heraklion

Air Canada via Toronto

Austrian Airlines seasonally from Vienna

Brussels Airlines seasonally from Brussels

Croatia Airlines via Dubrovnik, Split and Zagreb

Lufthansa via Frankfurt and Munich

Scandinavian Airlines via Copenhagen and Stockholm, and seasonally from Oslo

Swiss International Air Lines via Geneva and Zürich

Tap Portugal via Porto

Turkish via Istanbul

Round-trip tickets cost:

60,000 miles in economy

140,000 in business

160,000 in first

Rome’s skyline

Delta SkyMiles and the SkyTeam

The following SkyTeam members fly to Rome:

Alitalia via Boston, Miami and New York, and seasonally from Chicago and Los Angeles

Delta via Atlanta and New York, and seasonally from Detroit

Aeroflot via Moscow and Saint Petersburg

Air Europa via Madrid

Air France via Paris

KLM via Amsterdam

Round-trip tickets cost:

60,000 miles in economy

125,000 in business

First class tickets cannot be purchased with SkyMiles.

Economy award seats cost 60,000 miles with any of the major alliances, unless you can take advantage of American Airlines’ off-peak awards by flying between October 15 and May 15. That will save you 20,000 miles.

American Airlines also offers the best deal for business class. Tickets cost only 100,000 AAdvantage miles, compared with 115,000 MileagePlus miles, and 125,000 SkyMiles.